New WVU assistants adjusting

March 13, 2013

MORGANTOWN - With a stable of new coaches on the Mountaineer football roster, head coach Dana Holgorsen said it has to be looked at from a positive point of view for the West Virginia University program.

"Coaching changes are part of the profession that you have to learn to deal with," he said following Tuesday's spring practice. "Regardless of what the reason is for a coaching change, you always try to turn it into a positive."

Holgorsen said the new coaches, three offensive and two defensive, bring different philosophies to the table, and they all seem excited in their new roles.

"We obviously tried to locate guys that wanted to be here, that were eager and energetic about joining this staff, coming to work every day at a winning program," he said. "The morale as a whole is good because we have a bunch of guys that are excited about the opportunity to be here.

Three of the five new faces have been in Morgantown before, and Holgorsen said that helps because "they understand the inner workings of Mountaineer nation."

Those who have had previous stints with WVU are Tony Gibson, Lonnie Galloway and JaJuan Seider.

"I'm going to run my program a bit differently than previous head coaches," Holgorsen said. "I had to feel good about guys that wanted to bring something different to the table and understand how things work around here, but also have the knowledge to coach up certain positions.

Holgorsen said he has respect for new offensive line coach Ron Crook, a West Virginia native who arrived on campus after coaching at Stanford.

"I have so much respect for a guy that coached Division II football for 10 years," he said. "Going to Stanford and being a part of that program is great. (He) just wanted to come home. We know what we want to do offensively, but I'm never above getting someone's input on how we can make it better. He brings something to the table that is different than what I've done in the past, which is interesting."

Holgorsen said he has enjoyed the improvement of his cornerbacks under new coach Brian Mitchell.

"You take a guy like Brian Mitchell, who didn't know much about our program," Holgorsen said. "Based on my familiarity with him, I knew he could coach the heck out of these corners. You can see the difference in what our corners are doing right now."